Reunion
by AllenFair
Summary: It's been 10 years since graduation. The Glee kids are coming back to Lima to reunite. It's from the point of view of Quinn and Santana who, except for each other, haven't seen or heard from any glee kids in 10 years. Quinntana fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of their characters.**

10 years. That's how long it's been since I last talked to the people I graduated with. 10 years since I had been back in these halls. 10 years since I had changed my number and deleted my accounts on sites like Facebook or Twitter. 10 years is a long time to be away from people who know the worst about you, who saw you at your worst. But strangely you're starting to think 10 years may have not been enough time. When your mother had forwarded you the invitation to your school reunion you almost laughed. It surprised you people actually tried to get you the message that there would actually be a reunion. Santana you're sure didn't receive one.

Santana is the reason for the 10 years you've separated yourself from a place you once called home. Granted you've been back a few times, but only your mom knew that. She had kept her promises of not letting anybody, but the Lopez's, know when and for how long you'd be back. You're surprised even 10 years later that for such a small town your secret visits have gone unnoticed by anybody but your family. That changes tonight though. Here you are back in the halls you once could part a crowd in with just a single look. The same halls where you fell in love for the first time, where by your locker you had your first heart break, where in the choir room you dealt with a teen pregnancy, the halls that lead to the court yard you once lit a piano on fire in, and briefly during senior year wheeled yourself down. Your location, the gym, is where you once won and gave up the title to prom queen, took you first steps, and spent endless hours perfecting routines for the only other person you ever kept contact with from the town besides the Lopez's, one Coach Sue Sylvester.

If you had told yourself 10 years ago that you would never talk to the people you once considered friends, that you happened to be married to someone you once considered an enemy, married to the first person to break your heart, that your crazy cheerleading coach would ever call you family, that the same coach would give you away at said wedding, and that coach's daughter would one day call you Auntie Quinn you probably would have laughed in your face and maybe slapped yourself. 10 years ago I saw myself becoming a housewife in a small town married to a man who's rich with 2.5 children on the way. I saw myself becoming Judy Fabray. Now I live in Boston because New York wasn't for me. I'm married to someone who has become fairly wealthy on their own, but traded the man for a woman. I'm not a housewife, but a writer who goes by Lucy, a name I once dreaded. I have a daughter that I never raised, but 10 years ago I never did think I'd be this happy. I come to a stop in front of table just outside the gym. I fiddle with the ring on my left finger as I say the name I haven't uttered since my wedding day 7 years ago, "Quinn Fabray." The man looks up at me. I don't recognize him from my days here at McKinley, and I can't help but feel strangely happy at that. I'm here, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to face my past. He looks at me and searches for a name tag and hands it over with shaky hands. I guess 10 years isn't enough time for my name to be forgotten. I smile as I take it and mutter a thanks before turning to head back in time.

The gym is decorated. Photos from our class yearbooks are being presented on a slide show. There's a bar in the back and I head straight towards it hoping not to be  
>recognized, at least not until Santana gets here. Santana had to help my mom set up her new TV, but somehow managed to talk me into arriving earlier than her. Something about not wanting me to have to deal with cable guy who of course would be late showing up and having my mother nag me into listening to Santana didn't help my case in wanting to wait. I scan the room after getting my drink. The gym is full of people I don't remember mingling awkwardly with each other. I spot a table in a back corner of the room nobody is occupying and instantly make my way towards it. I'm almost to my table pulling out my phone to let Santana know where to find me when she decides to show up when I get spotted. "Fabray!" I hear a voice boom behind me. I curse and take a deep breathe putting up a mask I haven't used in almost 10 years and slowly turn around. "Puckerman." I say with a forced smile.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Puck is looking at me with a smirk. He finally shaved off the mohawk, gained a little weight, but he still has the same look in his eye that makes me feel like he's up to no good. He comes up rubbing his hand over what little hair he has left on his head. "You're looking good baby mama." He says with smirk and a little husk in his voice. I roll my eyes and make my way towards the table I was headed to. I take a seat that I can be sure to see a clear view of the entrance. I set my glass down and send a quick text to Santana telling her that she better hurry her ass up and get here before I decide to murder her instead of the guy who just hit on me. I look up and see Puck standing awkwardly by the table looking at me. "You going sit down or just stand there like an idiot all night?" I ask him. He sits across from me and takes swig from the beer he's holding.

I look down at my phone as it buzzes in my hand. Santana's on her way it took longer than expected to get the cable set up all she has to do is change. I hear someone clear their throat and I look up and see Puck fidgeting in his seat. "Are you waiting for someone?" he asks me. I nod my head and show him my wedding band and glance quickly towards the door. I know Santana won't be here that soon but a girl can hope right? "What's his name?" he asks me. I can tell that Puck doesn't seem to know what to talk about. I guess that'll happen when you don't talk for 10 years. "You'll see. They're on their way now." I tell him with a smile as my phone goes off again. I glance down and see that Santana is in fact on her way now, but seemingly not too thrilled to be headed towards an interrogation the musical as she so named it.

"You still talk to Santana?" he asks pointing at my phone. I feel my mouth twitch upwards at her name but I repress the smile and just nod my head. I don't want Santana to not have any more reasons to leave me here by myself, not that I think she would without telling me. "How'd that happen? Get the CIA to track her down?" he asks in a sad tone. I frown at that and grab my glass again. "Have you tried to reach her?" I ask him. He chuckles, "Quinn Fabray you haven't changed much have you? Always wanting all the information before you give any." I just lean back and cross my legs. Truth be told I have changed, but talking about Santana with people I haven't seen or spoken to in years tends to bring out the old head cheerleader in me.

Santana says I become like a lioness when people start to ask me about her. I close rank and protect the pride. I guess that happens when you spend the majority of your time with someone who unless you want legal advice from tends not to want to be found. In her personal phone Santana may have 15 contacts and in reality it's probably less. Santana only gives out her personal number to those she trusts and will actually talk too. Or you know the hospital, but that's for emergencies. I hear Puck sigh and see him take another swig from his beer.

"I asked her parents, Rachel, Kurt, and even Brittany. Nobody can tell me where to find her or how to reach her. I tried calling you that's who both Rachel and Kurt told me call, but I guess you had changed your number before I could reach you. Brittany told me Santana wrote her a letter, but the return address was to her parent's house in Lima. When I asked them again they wouldn't tell me anything just that she was doing well and was happy. That was seven years ago. I haven't gotten any leads since." I nod my head. His time line seemed about right. "How'd you find her?" he asks taking my silence as his answer that I wasn't going to tell him anything. "She found me." I tell him.

It's the truth, not all of it but it was what he asked for. I remember it like yesterday. It was pouring down rain in New Haven. I was studying for a test when a pounding on my dorm room door shook me from rereading about Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. When I opened my door it revealed a soaking wet Santana Lopez carrying an over-sized duffel bag and it had looked like she had been crying. It was the last day anybody from McKinley heard from Santana Lopez, and the beginning of the last weekend anybody heard from me. "What happened? Why did she only keep in contact with you?" He asks continuing his questioning. I shrug. Again it's the truth. Well part of it. I don't understand Santana's choice to come crying to me. She could have gone back to Lima, back to Brittany. She had enough money, and it probably would have been dryer. Or she could have stayed in New York. She had other friends there, but instead she got on a train and came to New Haven. "Are you going to tell me anything?" he asks. I can hear the sadness in his voice. I give him a sympathetic smile and reach over to grab his hand. "She's coming tonight." I whisper to him as I see a short brunette making her way over to us.

"Quinn Fabray?" I hear an unmistakable voice enter my ears. I lean back in my chair keeping my eyes on Puck. I'd really rather not deal with Rachel Berry right now. Puck is looking at me with wide eyes. Slowly, I focus my sights on the person I second most dreaded seeing tonight, "Rachel Berry." I say looking her over. She dresses better than she did in high school, but almost anything is better than those good awful animal sweaters she would wear or that week she dressed as Sandy from _Grease_. She's looking at me like I might disappear any second. I roll my eyes and motion to the seat next to Puck. "You can sit if you want, I won't bite." I force a smile as a grin spreads across her face and she sits down in the seat right next to mine. I tense as she reaches over to hug me.

"I didn't think you were coming." She tells me. "My mother forwarded my invitation." I tell her. "How have you been? Tell me everything?" I smirk at that. I don't want to talk to Rachel, but I have had a good life. Although we didn't keep in direct contact Rachel Berry was the one and only person Santana and I had followed. Well until her Broadway debut crumbled from out underneath her when she tried to get a TV pilot that flopped instead of doing a show. After that I decided karma had done its deed to her and I had stopped caring.

"I graduated from Yale top of my class with a degree in English. Valedictorian actually. I've found a pretty successful career as a writer. I got married to the love of my life about seven years ago. Oh and I graduated with a masters in English from NYU also at the top of my class." I smirk as I see her shocked expression. "You're in New York?" she asks me. I shrug. I'm not in New York. It wasn't for me instead I live in Boston, but Rachel Berry doesn't need to know that. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asks. She sounds hurt, but I don't really care. "You already know that answer." I tell her pointedly. "You said you were married? Where's your husband?" she asks. "They're coming." I say glancing back at my phone. Rachel huffs and leans back in her chair. I send Santana a Berry alert. Puck is one thing, but Rachel isn't the person Santana wants to be talking to right now.

"Do you still talk to her?" Rachel asks sharply. She never did like that I had chosen Santana over her. I think Rachel assumes that Santana left me behind as well. In fact she told that she would. This time I let the grin spread across my face as I look over Rachel's shoulders and towards the doors. I see Santana walk in, she's wearing a black skirt suit and high heels. She's taking the same route I did straight to the bar. "Every day." I reply looking back at Rachel. I glance back up and see that Santana has spotted me. She's scowling at the back of Rachel's head, but never the less she still grabs two drinks from the bartender and makes her way over to me. "Where is she now?" Rachel asks. I don't know why Rachel cares so much about where Santana ended up, but this isn't the first time she's asked me or Santana's family.

"Lima." I hear a raspy voice answer from beside me. I can feel the dopey grin on my face form as I hear her voice. "Figured you could use another." She says setting a glass of wine in front of me. Rachel has a shocked expression on her face, and Puck looks like he's seen a ghost. "Are you just going to sit there or are you going to give me hug Puckerman?" Santana asks with a smirk. Puck's out of his seat in a flash and is clinging to Santana like he's afraid she's going to disappear any second. Santana's never been much of a hugger. Which is strange considering how friendly her family is. I can hear Santana whisper that she's sorry as Puck inhales sharply. I never did understand why she left him behind, but I have a feeling she won't again. Although I have a feeling he'll be the only one. Finally, Puck let's go of Santana and returns to his seat his eyes never leaving her. Santana slides into the seat next to mine.

"You've been in Lima this whole time?" Puck asks her disbelievingly. Santana cocks her head and smirks. "I believe the question was where I was now, and right now I'm in Lima." She answers very much like a lawyer as she sips her drink. I can see Puck deflate. "Are either of you two ever going to actually tell me where you are?" he asks. I just shrug that's up to Santana. "How about we have lunch tomorrow? I'll answer any questions then." She says handing Puck her phone. I grin at Puck. Santana's up to 16 contacts now, and Puck looks like he just won the lottery. If he only knew that in a way he had. He was always the most persistent of the glee club. Not even Brittany could beat the amount of times or the effort he took in to finding her.

Rachel seems to be getting over her shock now, but before she can say anything a squeal comes from behind her. I look up to see a very fashionable Kurt looking at me. Mercedes isn't trailing too far behind him. "Ms. Quinn Fabray." He says smiling looking at me before turning a ghostly shade of white when he notices my companion. "Santana." He whispers. Mercedes stops in her tracks until somebody runs directly into her. I look to see who's behind her but that isn't who I immediately see.

Standing slightly behind Mercedes to her right holding hands with a furious and glaring Sam Evans is the person who tops my 'I hope I don't run into you' list, Ms. Brittany Pierce. I turn to look at Santana. This is the moment I had been dreading. I was foolish to hope that Brittany wouldn't turn up. I've always been afraid of what would happen if she did. Santana had been running from all of her past, but it seems that I had been running from Brittany. The last time I spoke to her she had been crying over the phone the day after Santana showed up at my door. She had been worried. Santana hadn't called her, Santana hadn't picked up her calls, and Santana had ignored her texts. Santana always went to Brittany and Santana always chooses Brittany. Brittany and probably everyone who knew Santana never understood why she didn't go to Brittany or even tell her where she was. I never understood why Santana choose me, but sitting here looking at the hurt and shocked expression on one Brittany Pierce's face I can see Brittany doesn't either. It seems that answer lays with in Santana alone, but as I fiddle with my wedding ring looking at Santana I can see a mask come up. This is the moment I have always known would tell me if Santana feels she made the right choice that day and the years after. "Lopez." Is all Santana responds with before taking another sip from her drink.

"What?" Kurt is the first out of the stupor. "It's Mrs. Quinn Lopez." Santana says looking dead at Brittany. Looking at Brittany in that moment I can't really feel anything but dread. 10 years ago Santana Lopez showed up at a Yale dorm room leaving everything behind her. 10 years ago Quinn Fabray finally got what she wanted and shut off the world so she could have it. Seven years ago Santana Lopez wrote a letter to Brittany Pierce, her parents made sure it was delivered directly to Brittany herself. Seven years ago Santana Lopez pledged her body, heart, and soul to one Quinn Fabray, and in return was pledged the same. Two months ago Quinn Fabray opened the door she had shut now as Quinn Lopez and dragged Santana Lopez back into the world with her. Two seconds ago after seeing Brittany Pierce for the first time in 10 years, the woman who used to own her heart, body, and soul the one woman she was loyal too no matter what. Santana Lopez drew a line in the sand and made clear what side she was standing on. Santana Lopez was standing by her choices. Two seconds ago the name Mrs. Quinn Lopez had never sounded so good.

I can feel everybody freeze around us. Brittany looks like she's been stabbed in the gut, Kurt and Rachel look shocked, Mercedes is looking back and forth between Brittany and Santana like she doesn't know what to do, Puck looks surprised, and Sam is the only one who looks pleased. "What?" Kurt asks again. I wonder if Santana just short circuited his brain. Santana looks over to me "You didn't tell them?" she asks with a smirk. She isn't mad in fact the glint in her eye tells me she's amused. I shrug and sip the wine she brought over. "Figured you wouldn't want to miss the show." She laughs at my response and kisses my cheek. "This is why I married you." she whispers to me. I look at her with the same dopey grin that I always get when she's around. I was worried that today would bring back all the pain she had run away from, but looking in her eyes all I see is love shining through. "Careful," I tease her, "you're heart is showing." I poke her in the side and I see a grin matching mine form on her face. "It's seems since you came along it always has a nasty habit of showing up."

**Hey guys, I got a few complaints about the formatting. Sorry, this is my first time using this site. I tried changing it a little let me know if you still don't like it. I tried making this chapter longer. The thing is I already have this entire story written out so I'm just trying to find logical spots to put chapters. If you want longer chapters than this one send me a message or review and I'll try to make them longer If you have any other comments or suggestions send me a review or message and I'll see what I can do. Thanks for all the feed back so far, and I'm really glad you guys are liking the story. I'll try to update as often as I can. - Allen**


	3. Chapter 3

I look away from Santana when I hear somebody clearing their throat. Santana glares over at Rachel, "Can I help you?" she asks. Her tone shifting quickly from sweet to annoyed. "You two are actually married?" Rachel asks. Santana scowls at her as I hold up my left hand to show off my rings. "Certificate and all. Even had a big ceremony to go along with it." I give her my infamous cheerios smile. I don't understand what's hard to understand about this.

"You can sit." I say gesturing to empty chairs around the table. Santana quickly takes her phone back from Puck and scoots as close as she can to me. She leans into my side and crosses her legs, but seems content to allow Puck to move over to chair that was placed beside hers. The rest of the gleeks slowly make their way into the other chairs around the table. Brittany's eyes haven't left Santana since she saw her, but Santana is too busy texting Puck to notice. When Puck pulls out his phone he nods his head at Santana and she breathes a sigh of relief. So far I'm right. Puck is the only person Santana is willing to let back in.

"When did you get married?" Rachel asks. "Seven years ago." a small voice replies. I tense at the sound. I didn't see Brittany's lips move, but I know it was her who answered. Santana grabs my hand and clears her throat nodding. "It'll be seven years in July, but we've been together for what almost a decade?" Santana asks looking over at me. I smile and nod my head.

We had gotten into a fight. I was at her apartment as she got ready to go out on yet another date. She had chosen to come to me, but I was still second best. When she asked me why I was so upset over her going out I had accidently, in my anger, told her that I was supposed to be the one she had gotten dressed up for. I was the one who spent all my time with her, who thought about her constantly, and I was the one who is in love with her. Tears running down my face I asked her why I was the one who always came in second place. I left before she could answer, but two hours later a knock came to my dorm door. When I opened it Santana was standing there in the same dress I had left her in, one hand holding flowers the other a first place baseball trophy. When I just stared at her she shrugged and told me the trophy was the best she could do on short notice and that I was way underdressed for our date. That was the moment I kissed Santana Lopez for the first time. It was awkward and I crumbled the flowers knocking the trophy out of her hand in the process, but it was still the best first kiss in my whole life.

Rachel's lips are pursed into a thin line, she's looking at us as if trying to determine how exactly we ended up here. "What do you do Kurt?" I ask before Rachel can voice her questions. Reunion events are happening until Tuesday. I really don't need Santana to have any more reasons to disappear back to Boston.

Kurt looks surprised to be addressed, but quickly fumbles into that he's a fashion designer and the details of the next line he's helping work on. We go around the table and everybody says what they're doing. Brittany used to tour with artists, but now that she's older she and Mike are opening up a dance studio here in Lima. Sam became a model in New York, but left shortly after his big break. He came back to Lima and attended the community college here. Eventually he found a job managing the cleaning crews to office buildings. Mercedes still does backup vocals for artists in L.A., but has started writing songs for an album she hopes to get produced. Rachel is a music teacher in New York, and acts in off-Broadway productions. She hopes one day to get back on a real Broadway stage. Puck it turns out lives fairly close to us. He's in Connecticut. His pool cleaning business really hit off. Now he can sit back and just manage his business sending out employees to do the hard work.

I tell them I'm a writer. I've had a few books come out. One even hit the New York Times best seller list. I write under a pen name. I don't really want my privacy invaded. Now the moment I've been waiting for. I think everybody secretly hoped Santana would fail after she left them. "So Santana what do you do? Still waiting for your big break?" Rachel asks her.

Santana had always said she wanted to be famous. Santana had tried to make it as a singer in New York before she got kicked out. She never did see her name in lights. However, Santana does see her name now on the door to a plush corner office as one of the youngest women to be promoted to junior partner in her firm. Santana shrugs and tells them she's a lawyer. A corporate lawyer in fact that deals with some of the most successful businesses in the country.

Everybody looks pretty shocked except for Puck who starts laughing. "Of course, Quinn Fabray would end up marrying a lawyer." He says after seeing the looks both Santana and I are giving him. Santana laughs with him and asks him how he thought she got me to agree to marry her in the first place which sends Puck into another fit of laughter.

"I thought you dropped out of college." Sam says. Santana shrugs and says that she went back to school the fall after she left New York. It's true. Santana showed up during my second semester at Yale. She ended up leasing a shitty one bedroom apartment in New Haven and getting a job as a bartender. She surprised me three weeks into our relationship, four months after coming to New Haven, when I asked her what her plans for the future were. With the help of her father she was accepted in Yale's Berkeley College. She had found out earlier that week, but didn't know when to tell me. "Where did you graduate from?" Mercedes asks. "Columbia." "Top of her class too." I add. I shrug when she shots me a 'what the fuck?' look. Santana doesn't like to brag, but that's never stopped me. "You've been in New York this entire time?" Kurt asks her dumbly.

Out of the two of them Kurt was the only one seemingly worried about Santana's safety. He even apologized to me. He said the situation just got out of hand. Santana tells him no in fact she was only in New York for three years. After she graduated from Columbia law I had told her that New York just wasn't for me. I had gotten a job in a publishing firm in Boston, and I wanted her to come with me so I could take it. Although Santana loved New York she gladly followed me to Boston. She told me she could practice law anywhere.

"Just ask already Rachel." Santana snaps suddenly bringing me out of my day dreaming. I look over and for the first time tonight Rachel looks apprehensive. "Where did you go Santana? We looked all over for you. Not even Quinn knew where you were." I grab Santana's hand and start playing with her fingers. "I took the last train to New Haven." She says looking between Kurt and Rachel. Kurt is looking at me with a hurt expression. As realization spreads over Rachel's face Santana speaks again. "I showed up that night in the pouring rain at Quinn's door. She let me crash in her room until I figured out what I was going to do. Instead of going back to New York I got an apartment in New Haven."

"Why wouldn't you tell us?" Kurt asks. He looks extremely hurt that neither Santana nor I told him where exactly she was. "You kicked me out of my home." Santana hisses at him. "Why didn't you call me? We could have worked something out Santana. They were your friends. You don't just run away." Brittany speaks up. She looks angry, and a little disappointed. "I called you over and over for two hours straight. I must have sent you a hundred texts."

It's true. Even as I opened the door to find Santana that night her phone was buzzing in her hand. Eventually she turned if off because it wouldn't stop. She had told me that halfway through her trip her phone went off once and had been going off ever since. Santana never told me why she never picked up her phone. I thought she would call Brittany back in the morning. Talk to Rachel and Kurt and be gone by Monday. I woke up the next day to an empty bed and a note. Santana had written that she would be back and not to call her. She said the only people she wanted knowing where she was were her parents and me, she said she had called her dad yesterday on her way here. My phone rang an hour later. It was an unfamiliar number. When I picked up Santana was on the other end. She told me to save the number in my phone, and asked what I wanted for breakfast. Santana Lopez had disappeared.

"For crying out loud Santana what were you thinking? The last time you had seen Quinn she fucking slapped you!" Angry is an understatement. Brittany Pierce is pissed. The slap happened during Thanksgiving break. Both Santana and I were helping the Glee club. Santana was trying to win Brittany back, and I was trying to convince people that my life didn't totally suck now that I was a nobody at Yale. Santana had called me out on my bullshit and I had slapped her. Hard. Until she showed up at my dorm room I hadn't spoken or seen her since. In my defense, she slapped me back.

"I went to the first person who came to mind." Santana snaps back. I still my fingers that had been playing with Santana's left hand. Santana's right hand is gripping her glass so hard I'm a little afraid it might break. I can see the fire building in her eyes. I look over at Brittany and see the hurt visible on her face. Brittany opens her mouth, but Santana stops her with a glare. "You want to know why I chose Quinn over you?" she asks. It was a question, but it came out as more of a statement, and although the question was directed at Brittany everybody nods their heads.

"I got kicked out for trying to help a 'friend' out. I got kicked out of a place I paid to live in. As I was packing I thought about who to call. I had other friends in New York. I had enough money to pay for a hotel room, or fuck even go back to Lima. All I wanted was somewhere safe to go where I wouldn't be alone. Next thing I knew I was on the last train to New Haven calling my dad to tell him what happened. He asked me why I chose to go to New Haven. He told me he would call around and even pay for the hotel room and fly out the next day if I wanted to stay in New York. I told him not to worry. I knew Quinn was a safe place to land. She was the only person I trusted to have my back completely, that's why I chose her. That's one of the many reasons why I married her." Santana's hand is now digging into my thigh. I can tell she's trying not to yell. I slip one arm through the gap in her folding chair and up her blazer rubbing her back as my free hand runs down the arm to the hand currently embedded into my thigh.

"I was in love with you Santana I would have been there for you." I tense and still at Brittany's words. I feel Santana's hand tighten before she removes it completely she leans forward on the table and looks Brittany directly in the eye. "Rachel called her that night asking if she knew where I was. Quinn lied for me even though I never asked her too. I hadn't even told Quinn what happened by the time Rachel called. Quinn protected me without even asking why. Quinn was what I needed not you or anybody else. I stand by my actions."

About an hour after Santana had shown up at my door Rachel called, Santana still hadn't told me why she was in fact there. After opening the door Santana had dropped her bag and rushed into my arms, clinging to me like a kola in a tree. Her face buried in my neck. My roommate just sat there in shock before getting up and moving Santana's bag inside as I maneuvered Santana over to my bed. I had to forcibly remove Santana from my body in order to get her to change into dry clothes. As soon as she had done what I wanted though she was back clinging to me as though I was a raft keeping her afloat at sea. Rachel called me asking if I had heard from Santana. Santana had since removed herself even if for a brief moment to remove the battery from her phone. Opting to text her father from my phone to tell him where she was and that she was in fact safe just like she had told him she would be.

Rachel called me a few hours after Santana had arrived when I said Rachel's name I could feel Santana go ridged. So decided to lie saying that Santana had in fact called me in case somebody was wondering where she was, but Santana hadn't told me where exactly she was only that she was okay and safe. I hung up shortly after that turning off my phone as well. When my roommate had started to ask questions as to who Santana was and why Santana was actively trying to mold her body into mine I just turned on my old cheerios glare to shut her up and told her to turn off the lights.

That was the first night I fell asleep holding Santana in my arms. She had stopped crying, but didn't seem too keen to remove her face from the crook of my neck so I didn't make her. It has been 10 years since that day, 9 years of sleeping in the same bed as Santana every night and to this day I'm not sure how she removed herself from my body without waking me up the next morning. The day after she showed up she told my roommate and I everything. How she had found out Rachel's boyfriend was a gigolo, how she had tried to tell Rachel, how Rachel kicked her out of her own apartment and Kurt just stood by silent.

Later she took me to an apartment building showing me a one bedroom apartment. The living room, kitchen, and laundry area where all in one room with a bedroom and bathroom down a hallway on the right side of the apartment. She told me it was nicer than the loft she shared with Kurt and Rachel. The apartment was bare except for a box for a bed frame and some hangers in the closet. I told her it was small but nice. She handed me a key. When I asked why she was giving me a key to an apartment Santana only shrugged and hugged her arms over herself kicking at floor. That's when I realized she wasn't going back to New York. At least not right away. So I moved over and wrapped my arms around her, and told her I liked it. Not much longer after she had rest her forehead on my shoulder my phone rang. Brittany was calling.

Santana and Brittany having been staring at each other for the past minute before I clear my throat. It's enough to get Santana to lean back from the table. I notice people are starting to thin out so I tug on Santana's blazer to get her to look at me. "It's getting kind of late." I tell her when her attention is on me. She nods her head and gets up. Santana whispers something in Puck's ear.

"Are we going to see you again?" Mercedes asks looking at Santana. Santana looks back at me and I shrug. The answer is probably yes. Tomorrow, Mr. Schue is having a private glee club reunion in the choir room I was going to go too. I had already told Santana that I was attending, but I wasn't going to force her to attend with me. Santana nods, "Quinn wanted to go to that glee thing Mr. Schue is hosting." She explains waving her hand. She grabs my hand and starts walking out the door and we say goodbye. Puck is following us out.

At my car she kisses me before telling me to drive safe and that she'll see me back at my mom's house. Before I can open my door a voice stops me. "Congratulations." I look up to find Puck looking after Santana. When he looks at me I can tell he's being sincere. "On your marriage. You know I saw her once." He continues. When I give him a confused look he explains, "After she disappeared I saw her once. Here in Lima." "Graduation." I say nodding my head. Coach Sue had arranged for Santana to be able to attend Brittany's graduation. It was the only time in the past 10 years she went home without me. Santana never did visit Brittany to tell her that she had been there, but much like Rachel's opening night on Broadway she sent flowers to let her know that she was proud. "Yeah," Puck says rolling back on his feet, "Brittany didn't think she was there, but she got flowers that she knew were from Santana. That day I go to the Lima Bean and there's Santana by her dad's car. She was on the phone laughing, a big smile on her face. She didn't even notice me standing there. That was you she was talking to too wasn't it?" I nod.

I remember her calling me complaining about how boring Lima was without me. I was supposed to be studying for a test. Instead I ended up redecorating her apartment and moved the furniture around. I had missed her. When she came home Sunday she found me asleep in the middle of her bed. "She's happy right?" he asks timidly. I go up to him and give him a hug and tell him that Santana is in fact very happy. "Puck," I call before he turns around to leave. "I love her. She makes me really happy. We have a good life together, but we both missed you." He nods and smiles before heading over to his car. By the time I get home Santana's already asleep. I change and get into bed, smiling when Santana moves to wrap her arm around me.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning I wake up to my phone ringing. I reach over to grab it as Santana groans and buries her face in my pillow. It was my mom on the phone. Breakfast is ready and we have some visitors. I kiss Santana and tell her we need to get up. I hadn't told anybody Santana and I were here except for the Lopez family so I assume it's my in laws who are here to see us.

I walk downstairs to the kitchen before Santana. I walk and grab two coffee cups from the cabinet above the sink. I turn around when I hear my mother muttering angrily to herself. I look towards the table and freeze. Sitting at the table is Brittany Pierce and Sam Evans. Brittany has food in front of her, but isn't actually eating. Sam on the other hand is munching happily.

I can hear Santana as she comes down the stairs and she walks over to my mom. Santana's oblivious to the fact two very unwanted people have decided to crash our breakfast as she makes two heaping plates of food and kisses my mom on the cheek in thanks. She turns and walks over to me presenting one of the plates to me. I'm not paying that much attention though.

Brittany has an eyebrow raised taking in the scene. She's probably partially surprised to find that my mother and wife actually get along fairly well. It took a few years into our marriage, but after saving his company from a huge law suit my father, Russell, even seems to love her. They go golfing all the time.

I grab the plate of food and instinctually hand over one of the empty mugs to Santana. This is our routine. Santana would get the food I would get the coffee. The breakfast routine started back my freshman year at Yale. After Santana arrived I spent the majority of my mornings at her apartment. We didn't have a table to eat at, and Santana had a shortage of dishes and no dishwasher. I'd always end up cooking, but Santana would clean up. It's been a decade and the routine has stuck.

Santana furrows her eyebrows at the empty mug in her hand, confused as to why it contains none of the magical liquid known as coffee. When she notices my posture and expression her eyes finally travel over to the table. Santana huffs and nudges me towards the table. I hear her pour some coffee before asking my mother if she needs anything.

I'm still staring at Brittany when Santana plops down beside me opening up a newspaper. "It's 2022, and your mom still gets print media." Santana chuckles going for the business section. "She's worse than daddy. Remember when you had to teach him how to use Skype?" I ask pushing my plate towards her. I'm not hungry. I guess having Brittany Pierce invade your kitchen is the one thing that will actually make me not want bacon. Santana starts in on her breakfast willing to ignore everybody in favor of checking on the stock market.

"Santana," I try. Sam and Brittany are watching us. "If you ignore them Lucy Q they might just go away." She offers as she hands me a strip of bacon. "Wow Santana still a bitch huh?" Sam asks venom dripping off his words. I hear my mom drop a pan in the kitchen and curse. "I'm sorry I wasn't aware I had to exchange pleasantries to the people who showed up and pissed off my mother in law." Santana responds calmly finally looking up from her paper to meet Sam's gaze.

"I wanted to talk to you." Brittany says looking at Santana. "It couldn't have waited until this afternoon?" She asks. "I was hoping to talk to you alone." Brittany explains looking over at me. Santana gets up and Brittany follows her out of the kitchen. They're gone maybe a minute before I hear my mother gasp, and loud bang, and before I can even get out of my chair Santana is storming back into the kitchen swearing in Spanish to herself. "I want them out Fabray." is all she says to me before storming upstairs. I look at Sam who shrugs, "Brittany just wanted to tell her about the engagement." I see Brittany walk in a second later and I point towards the door. "You guys should probably leave before Santana gets back." I tell them.

My mom comes in from the kitchen, "You need to watch out for that girl. I never did trust that one." She tells me glaring after Brittany and Sam's retreating forms.

I quickly go upstairs to find Santana in my bathroom brushing her teeth. I watch her as she rinses out her mouth and jumps when she sees me watching her from the door. "She's gone right?" she asks me while stripping out of her t-shirt. I nod my head watching as she turns on the shower. "Sorry, I just need to wash her off of me." she says finally turning to look at me.

I can see pain in her eyes. I can feel tears sting the back of my eyes, Brittany tried to take her from me, as I turn around making my way to the bed. I had been expecting it, but it still hurts. I don't know how long I'm sitting there before Santana comes out in a towel. Santana kneels in front of me so she can look me in the eye. "I'm sorry." She whispers. I just shake my head, and feel a new wave of tears stream down my cheeks. It's not Santana's fault. "I pushed her off as soon as she kissed me. I'm so sorry, baby." Santana says. I nod my head at her words. That must have been what the crashing sound was. I kiss Santana and tug at her towel. She allows it to fall away as she moves onto the bed never breaking away from my lips. Santana allows me to claim her as she whispers that she loves me over and over.

We're lying in bed Santana's head resting on my chest. "You smell different." I tell her. "You usually smell like vanilla." I say sniffing her hair. "I used your stuff. I don't know why, but I just wanted to smell like you after this morning." she says in a quiet voice. I smell her again and joke that I smell good. She laughs and moves further into me.

When I get out of the shower later that day I see Santana pulling her hair back into a pony tail. She's dressed in jean shorts, a red and white flannel top that's open to reveal she's wearing one of my Yale t-shirts. "Leaving for lunch with Puck?" I ask her. She nods and comes and gives me a kiss. "When I get back we can head over to the school, okay?" I nod and watch her leave before getting ready.

Santana comes back a couple of hours later. I'm dressed in shorts and one of her Berkeley t-shirts from her sorority. When Santana had first told me she was going to rush a sorority I thought she was crazy, but after seeing her interact with the girls she would later call her sisters I could tell she was looking to replace the family we had always told her she had with Glee. Today, her sorority sisters make up the majority of her 16 phone contacts, and have given her a god child, Riley. The events I got to attend being her girlfriend were also pretty fun.

The drive over to McKinley is silent. When Santana turns off the car I turn to look at her. "I don't want you alone with her." I say. Santana reaches over and squeezes my hand in silent consent to my request. Her eyes never leaving the building in front of her. "We don't have to come back for our 20 year reunion right?" she asks. I chuckle at her and kiss her cheek. "Whatever you want babe." I get out of the car and stretch my back. It's been bothering me today probably because of the stress Brittany served us for breakfast.

We make our way silently to the choir room. I can hear voices coming from the door. I reach over and squeeze Santana's hand before opening the door. It seems that Santana and I are the last ones to arrive.

Unlike yesterday when we only had to deal with a few of the former gleeks; today the choir room is filled with everybody. I can see Sam and Brittany talking in the back to Kurt, Rachel, and Finn. In the front Artie is sitting with Mercedes and Sugar. Puck, Mike, and Tina are talking to Mr. Schue by the white board. Everybody seems to quiet down when they notice Santana and I at the door. "Sorry we're late." I say looking towards Mr. Schue. Mr. Schue smiles at us and walks over to give us both a hug. "I didn't think you guys were coming." I grimace a little when a pain shots up my spine and feel Santana rub my back as she tries to discreetly move me to the closet chair so I can sit. "Quinn really wanted to come." Santana says with a smile as I sit down.

Eventually, everybody settles in as we start to reminisce about our high school days. After a couple of hours of talking about the songs we used to sing and the drama brought on by them Santana and Puck leave in order to get some snacks and drinks for everybody else.

Santana was pretty reluctant to leave, especially since Puck was going with her, but I told her I'd be fine and not to worry so much or she'd get wrinkles. "I never really imagined you'd join a sorority Quinn." Tina says pointing at my shirt. I frown before remembering I was wearing Santana's rush shirt. I laugh and shake my head. "Oh I didn't join. This is Santana's." Everybody looks a little shocked at that.

"Santana went to Berkeley?" Rachel asks me looking at my shirt. I nod my head smiling, "Yeah she got her undergrad there with a B.S. in political science." "Wow, that's really impressive." Mr. Schue states smiling over at me. "I'm very proud of her." "So you married Satan?" Artie asks me pointing and my wedding band. I laugh, "It'll be seven years in July." "How does that work? You two were always butting heads and fighting." Tina asks. Everybody laughs, but seems intrigued to find out the answer.

It's true Santana and I were more enemies than friends during our tenure at McKinley. I had known Santana for a while before we started high school. We were best friends, but people never remember that. When Brittany came along and Santana stopped hanging out with me in favor of spending time with Brittany. Naturally, I got upset. It broke my heart that Santana would rather hang out with the school idiot than spend more than a few seconds with me.

When my life started falling apart sophomore year I blamed Santana. It was her fault for leaving me, not protecting me. So I made it my mission to make her as miserable as I was. We reconciled senior year after my accident, but quickly fell apart again climaxing with Slapsgiving of 2012. "You know Santana and I used to be best friends before we came here to McKinley." I say remembering how inseparable we were all throughout middle school. "Believe it or not we rarely fight." "I can't see Satan being sweet and loving to anybody besides Brittany." Sam condescendingly chuckling a little and I frown. Sure her sorority use to use that nickname, but it was never in jest. I get up and excuse myself to the bathroom.

I'm standing at the sink when I hear the door open and see Brittany step in. "How'd you do it?" I cock my head to the side in confusion. "How did you get her to agree to marry you? She and I were supposed to end up together." Brittany states it as though it was a fact. Santana was supposed to choose Brittany in the end.

"Santana proposed to me." I didn't even think Santana saw a life with me, but it's true. Three years of being together Santana took me out to my favorite restaurant and got the band to play my favorite song. She was shaking as she got down on one knee as the band played _I'll Be_ in the background. Her hands were shaking so bad she dropped the ring. Twice. She said I once told her that she always put me in second place in her life. Santana told me I was wrong I was always number one even if sometimes it didn't always seem that way, I had stolen her heart with a single glance, she had been mine since I opened my dorm door one stormy night three years ago, she said she didn't deserve me but if I let her she'd spend her whole life trying to be the person I deserved, and she would love me until the day she died and beyond. I spent the rest of the night showing her how much I loved her.

"She doesn't love you Quinn. She kissed me. Santana will come back to me." I laugh at that, and give her a sickening sweet smile. "If Santana loves you why did she let me fuck her after she pushed you away and kicked you out of the house? Why did she moan out my name instead of yours?" I hear the slap before I feel it. "She'll come back to me." Brittany hisses and turns around to walk out of the door, but stops dead in her tracks.

Leaning against the door frame is Santana looking at Brittany with a deadly gaze. "Sam's looking for you." She says. Brittany doesn't move though and I turn around to inspect the damage on my cheek in the mirror. "You shouldn't keep your fiancé waiting Brittany." Santana states coldly moving closer to us. Brittany nods her head and starts to finally continue her path to the door before Santana stops her again. "Oh and Brittany? Touch Quinn again and I'll end you." She says with a growl stepping between where I am facing the mirror and where Brittany stands.

"How long have you been there?" I ask her looking at her through the mirror when we're finally alone. "Long enough to know what you said to get Brittany to slap you." I turn around and lean back on the sink. "Good job at not slapping her first." Santana smirks coming up to inspect my cheek. I chuckle bitterly as I allow her to move my head. "That's going to be a bruiser." "Can we go home?" I ask her. The smirk on her face tells me the answer is no before she voices it.

"Do you remember how scared everybody used to be of us? Parting a crowded hallway with just a look. Fuck we even set a piano on fire without getting in trouble." I nod my head at her, "I'm not that person anymore, San, and unless you're in a court room neither are you. If we were we wouldn't be married." I point out. She licks her lips and nods her head at my words. "Back then I hated you for leaving me and everybody was scared of us. I'm not proud of who we were." Santana grabs my hands. "People need to know they can't fuck with us, with you, like that. She slapped you Quinn that's not okay, and I'm pretty close to going all Lima Heights Adjacent on that bitch."

"You know you're not from Lima Heights right? Your dad's a doctor and your mom's a lawyer." "Shh! I have a rep to maintain." Santana jokes slapping my arm playfully. That makes me crack a smile. "What are you suggesting I do, Santana?" "I know right now you're trying to be nice and make amends for us not being here for the past 10 years, but right now I don't really need Quinn Lopez loving and protective wife. Instead I need Quinn Fabray HBIC of McKinley who doesn't take shit from anybody." I nod my head. "I can keep the last name though right?" I ask dragging Santana out of the bathroom by the hand. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't." she says with a smirk.

When we get back to the choir room Brittany and Sam are nowhere to be found. Mercedes intercepts us near the door. "You guys should probably head out. Brittany was real upset when she came back, and Sam's furious." I feel my blood start to boil. "Listen here wheezy Quinn and I haven't done anything since we've been here, and I'll be damned if I let trouty mouth and Brittany ruin this for Quinn."

Mercedes raise her hands in surrender. "Look I just figured you wouldn't want to have to deal with that. You've been gone for a long time Satan a lot of people are pissed about it, especially Brittany. She never thought you'd leave her behind." Mercedes brow furrows and her eyes narrow in on my cheek. "What the hell happened to you?" "Like you said Brittany never thought Santana would leave her behind." Mercedes gasps, "Brittany seriously did that?" Santana nods her head says, "Look I know I pissed a lot of people off and I know we're redoing songs tomorrow for the new glee club. So, I need your help with something wheezy." Mercedes looks at Santana with a raised eyebrow. "Should I be worried?" "Depends on if Quinn knows how to tango." Santana replies before walking off.

"I don't know how to tango." I mumble watching Santana walk over to Sugar who nods her head along to whatever Santana is telling her before squealing. Santana writes something down for Sugar before walking back over to us. "Meet me there tonight." Santana states before handing Mercedes something. Mercedes grins and gives Santana a hug. "By the way you need to teach your girl how to tango." Mercedes calls over her shoulder. "Come on." Santana says leading the way back to the car.


	5. Chapter 5

When we get to the choir room the next day Santana sits me down in the front and tells me to be ready and to let her lead. She bounces over to Mercedes and Sugar who are standing in front of the piano. Puck comes in and sits behind me and after watching people trickle in I turn around and hand him my phone. "I need you to get Santana preforming on film." He smirks at me.

"Why can't you take it?" "My wife is forcing me to tango with her." I tell him with a chuckle. "Never tangoed before?" he asks. I shake my head no, "No, but when we got married she made me do the salsa for part of our first dance." "Just part of it?" he asks raising an eyebrow. "I wanted to do a traditional ball room dance, she wanted to do the salsa so we ended up mixing the two. I'll show you the video later so you can tease her about it." "I'm going to hold you to that, Fabray." "It's Lopez now." I banter back winking at him.

Mr. Schue walks in and heads over to the trio up front. He talks to them for a second before turning around to address the rest of us. "Guys the class of 2012 have come in today to show us some of the numbers they performed while they attended school here. These ladies have decided to revive a song they performed together for sectionals when they were a part of our revival glee club: the trouble tones." Mr. Schue announces clapping his hands. Puck and I cheer as Sugar, Mercedes, and Santana go to the middle of the room getting into place as the first notes of _Survivor/ I will Survive_ start to play.

Santana sings out the first couple of lines, as the trio redo their original choreography from sectional junior year, sending me a wink. The trouble tones only change their original routine up after Santana sings: _I used to cry, but now I hold my head up high_, bringing them up to the front of the class and Santana pulls me up into a tango for the music break. She leads me into a series of dips and moves whispering every now and then instructions. She twirls me off to the side just before Mercedes comes back in for the last verse.

When they're done the audience claps and I head over to give Santana a hug. "That was great guys." I tell them high-fiving Mercedes and Sugar. "Not too bad yourself Ms. Dancer." Mercedes says winking at me. "You did great baby." Santana whispers to me as I pull her back towards our seats. I take my phone from Puck as he congratulates Santana on her performance I send the video to her best friend, Ashley.

Santana and I meet Ashley while at Yale. Ashley rushed Santana's sorority during Santana's second year at Berkeley. I'm pretty sure either Ashley or Santana pissed off one of the older girls because when the time came around for them to big and little sisters, Santana and Ashley were the oddest pair in the bunch.

Ashley is a southern girl with a thick accent from a small farming town in rural Georgia. She rushed the tri deltas because her mom was a legacy at her alma mater of UCLA. Ashley was quiet, timid, and had never met a real life gay before she was introduced to Santana.

To say Santana blew away her expectations would be an understatement. Besides a love of golf, that would come later because of work, and the occasional use of flannel in her wardrobe Santana isn't the stereotypical lesbian. Sure she loves Fleetwood Mac and the Indigo Girls, but who doesn't? Santana loves to dress up, she wears make-up, and by the time she and Ashley met Santana, she and I were in a relationship so Santana didn't flirt unless it was a joke.

Never mind the fact that Ashley was shy and here she was teamed up with a feisty Latina who spoke her mind and showed affection through snarky comments. Honestly, I think Ashley was afraid of Santana. I met Ashley two weeks into their mentorship at a welcoming party the sorority house was throwing for new members. To say that Ashley wasn't expecting me to be Santana's girlfriend would also be an understatement.

A former cheerleader, former head of the celibacy club, and a devote Christian girl who's closet is made up primarily of sundresses is not what she was expecting. Ashley didn't really know what to make of us, not that she was homophobic or anything. Any trepidation Ashley had towards Santana quickly ended the night I met her. A frat boy tried to cop-a-feel on a very unwilling and unsuspecting Ashley, and when he wouldn't take no for an answer Santana swooped in going full Lima Heights on him, cursing in Spanish and all. Ashley decided her knight in shining armor wasn't so bad after all, and the two ended up becoming best friends. Ashley even adopted a few of Santana traits and sense of humor as she bloomed out of her awkward stage, and was Santana's maid of honor at our wedding.

After a few songs sung by both new and old members of the New Directions we break for lunch. I'm sitting at a table with Puck, Mercedes, and Sugar. Santana comes over and hands us all a sandwich and some bottles of water. My back is bothering me again so I dig through my purse to find some pain killers when Santana slips something into my hand. They're the pills I had been looking for and I thank her before taking them. Mercedes comments that after watching us she thinks we work really well together. She says it almost seems like we know what the other is thinking, and she points to the fact that Santana knew exactly what I was looking for without me saying anything.

Santana replies nonchalantly, "That's what happens when you're with someone you know literally everything about." Sugar looks between us suspiciously before announcing that there's no way we know everything about each. I shrug and tell her that Santana and I don't keep secrets from each other as Santana nods her head in affirmation. Santana and I have two main rules when it comes to our relationship: we tell each other everything and we don't compete. That's what tore us a part at McKinley. Lying about our sexuality, whose baby I was carrying, competing for head cheerleader, or competing for solos. It pitted us against each other, and without them it has brought us together as an unstoppable team.

Santana is off talking to Ashley on the phone while I'm listening to Puck, Mercedes, and Sugar share stories from the past 10 years I've been gone. Tina and Mike come over just as Santana is hanging up. "It's hard to believe that you joined a sorority Santana." Mike tells her pointing at her shirt. She's wearing a shirt Ashley gave her as a gift. "Yeah I never really pegged you as a sorority girl." Puck chimes in. Santana shrugs, "It was fun. Not to mention I didn't have to think about what to do for a bunch of dates since I could just drag Quinn with me to events." Puck and Sugar laugh at her answer.

"I'm surprised you went back to college, Santana. You were always so adamant on becoming famous." I hear a nasally voice say behind us. It's Rachel. I'm surprised I don't hear a sarcastic tone to her voice instead she only sounds genuinely curious. "You do have an amazing voice." Sugar chimes in giving Santana a smile.

Santana laughs, "I'm really well known in my field, and I still get to preform just not how I always thought." Rachel sits down across from us. "What do you mean?" Rachel asks curiously. "The courtroom is my stage now or boardroom depending on the case." I nod my head. I've seen Santana work and she definitely puts on a performance. Her moves are graceful, calculating, and choreographed. Her words are rehearsed, but flow smoothly and confidently. Her presence demands attention just like an actors. "You should see her. She strikes fear in the hearts of everybody who comes against her." I say with a proud smile. "Sounds like Satan." Mercedes laughs.

Rachel POV

It's been weird being back in Lima. I always thought coming back for my school reunion I'd be able to show off a Tony and brag about the many Broadway productions I've helped bring to life in New York. Instead I'm here as a music teacher. Maybe it is true about what they say: Those who can't do teach. I like to think one day my hard work in balancing rehearsals for off-Broadway productions, parent teacher conferences, and dealing with unruly teenagers would pay off in my big break.

I think back to the days of living with Kurt and Santana in Buschwick. I was happier back then. A beautiful boyfriend, my best friend to support me, and Santana to push me. I was in school studying my passion, and the stage was calling me for a role I was born for. I had everything I could ever want, but I got too wrapped up in my world to see what was right outside my door.

I was too blinded by a smile and a pretty face to realize I was attacking my protector, my real knight in shining armor. I burned bridges at NYADA. I pushed away my own dreams for the sliver tongue of a flimsy television producer. That's how I ended up alone taking night classes at a small college while waiting tables during the day. It's how I ended up the sole person believing I could be something when everybody shut the door in my face.

The first role I got since _Funny Girl_ was so small I didn't even have any lines. I didn't tell anybody. Kurt thought I was just taking extra shifts at the diner or I had picked up more hours at school. When I got back stage, on opening night, I had a single vase waiting for me. It was a bouquet of white lilies. I was surprised somebody had even found out I was part of the play. At first I thought Kurt had found out, but when I picked up the card that went with the flowers it wasn't signed by him. In fact there wasn't even a name to go along with card at all. The only thing written was a quote. It was from a critic who had made fun of Barbra Streisand's hands, back when she portrayed Fanny Brice, relating them to that of a man's. It was the first time I had let myself think back to Santana.

Man Hands was a favorite nickname of hers for me. I wondered where she was. If she would laugh at how far I had fallen since I had forced her out of our home and my life. Or would she help pick me up and together we would work towards our dreams of fame? Ever since my last phone call to Quinn that fateful weekend I had blocked all thoughts of Santana from my mind. It was too painful to think about what I had done in my anger. Especially after she had been proven right. I wondered if she was happy, if she was somewhere warm and safe, and let my mind run through the scenarios of what she was doing now. Was she preforming, was she back in Lima or here in New York, was she laughing with new friends; better friends, or did she ever think about me? I pocketed the card. That night I preformed, after all the rejection I had faced since _Funny _Girl, knowing somewhere someone believed in me the proof nestled comfortably in my pocket.

Every opening night I had since then I was always greeted by the same bouquet of white lilies. The card never had anything different written on it. The same quote scribbled in the same neat hand writing or typed out in black letters. I never told anybody about them. They were gift for me alone. I kept all the cards even as the flowers died and withered away. On nights I felt alone, feeling the world's weight on my shoulders I would take out the cards I had collected and read over every single one. Based off the notes that were hand written I could tell the same person had sent every single one even when the location they were sent from changed.

One day Kurt found them and asked me what they were. He thought I was hiding a boy from him. I didn't tell him how every opening night without fail they would arrive, how I only allowed myself to think of Santana when I looked at them, how they reminded me of her, or how I didn't know who they were from. I did tell him, as I snatched them out of his hands carefully putting them back into their hiding place, what they meant to me. They were my motivation, a push to keep going when all I wanted to do was give up, and my most prized possessions.

"Why?" Kurt had asked me. He was looking at me like I was crazy, "Because sometimes you need more than just you to believe in your dreams! They believe in me, and they make me believe in myself!" I cried looking down at the quote that had begun to haunt me ever since I had first read it. That was the night Kurt had started to believe in my dreams once again. I don't know how much of it was fake, but he became my support system once again.

Sitting here, today, across from Santana as she recalls stories from her many cases I can't help but think about those white lilies. I had always been torn between hoping I would see Santana's name in a tabloid talking about how she's a new upcoming artist or seeing her on the silver screen having finally gotten the big break she had worked so hard for, and hoping that maybe she was doing just as terribly as I was.

It's clear now that she had gone away and done well for herself, and ultimately Quinn, where I was still drowning in my regrets from years past with nothing more than a secret admirer to keep me going. I feel like I should be jealous. Santana has everything a person could wish for. She found love, she found something she's passionate about and gets paid for it, and she has friends and family who love and support her.

10 years ago Santana was lost, but here she is 10 years later happier than I've ever seen her. I don't feel jealous or spiteful, no I'm happy. I'm happy that my knight in shining armor found a princess worthy of her protection, and I'm happy Santana learned to swim even though I can barely keep myself a float. I just wish I could've been around to see it happen. 10 years is a long time. A lot of things happen in 10 years, but 10 years isn't enough time to stop regretting the biggest mistake of your life.

Seeing Santana after 10 years I can't help but wonder if my greatest mistake may have, in a twisted way, been the greatest thing to ever happen to Santana. Secretly, I hope so because I can't imagine seeing the glint in Santana's eye every time she sees Quinn being there if I had ever made amends, and that seems to make all the pain worth it. Mr. Schue breaks me out of my thoughts and everyone starts to make their way back into the choir room.


	6. Chapter 6

Rachel POV

The New New Directions preformed for us and we closed with a rendition of _Don't Stop Believin'_. I'll never forget the first time we sang it as a group. We were terrible. Whenever I hear it I always think of glee. Those three years were the best years of my life.

This was the last event for our reunion unless you count Puck's party tomorrow night. I look around the choir room. I wonder how long it'll be until I come back to this place, and who I'll be when I return. My eyes instinctually settle on Santana. Ever since I saw her Friday night I've found myself searching for her everywhere I go. Afraid it might be the last time I see her.

She's by the piano. I think it's the first time I haven't seen Quinn with her all weekend. Santana's talking to Mike, Mercedes, and Brittany. She keeps glancing at the door, and for someone with so much bravado she looks strangely uncomfortable. Mike has a smile on his face, but Mercedes has her eyes narrowed on something. I go to see what she's glaring at and I find myself growing angry as well. Brittany's hand is on Santana's arm.

Every time Brittany touches her Santana moves a little closer to Mercedes, but Brittany doesn't seem to mind or notice. Brittany is all smiles and giggling, but Santana is expressionless. Brittany's engaged to Sam she shouldn't trying to mess around with Santana. I'm about to see if I can save Santana when the door opens. I see Santana's mask break as she looks over to the door. She looks relieved. Quinn hasn't even entered the room fully by the time Santana reaches her. Mercedes is now smiling, Mike is laughing at Santana's antics, but Brittany looks annoyed.

I'm walking out to my car when I see Brittany, again, in the hallway. "Brittany!" I call out to stop her. She's with Sam. She whispers something in his ear and he nods waving at me before continuing out the door. "What's up Rachel?" she asks smiling at me. I remember back to how uncomfortable Santana looked talking to Brittany as I square my shoulders, and try to put on a hard mask that Santana would be proud of.

"You need to leave Santana alone." I tell her coolly. Brittany's bright and sunny persona quickly shifts to one of annoyance. "Who are you to tell me to leave Santana alone? You're the reason she left in the first place." I tense at the accusation. "Don't act like a saint Rachel. You're the reason none of her friends have seen or heard from her in 10 years." I look over Brittany's shoulder. I can see Quinn getting into her car. She's smiling at whatever Santana is doing or saying.

I look Brittany and step closer to her. "Santana's happy. Quinn makes her happy." I emphasize. "If I had any part in that happiness good or bad I'd have to say it's one of my greatest achievements." I say glaring at Brittany. It's true. I can tell Quinn makes Santana happy. Santana's in love with Quinn. I can see it in the way she looks at Quinn, the way she interacts with Quinn soft and lovingly, or the way she talks about Quinn. Santana's eyes light up, and you can hear the pride in her voice and see it in her smile. If you want to blame me for forcing them together then it's a cross I'll happily bare.

I have always regretted my decision, but after this weekend I'm finding it hard to regret the outcome even when I ended up on the bottom. Brittany's eyes narrow and I feel anxious waiting for her response. Luckily for me an unlikely savior comes to me aid. "Tweedledumb, I believe your guppy faced boy toy is waiting for you." Brittany looks over my shoulder and gives whoever it is a sickly sweet smile before shooting me one last glare and turning on her heel leaving me alone with one Sue Sylvester.

I turn around and see Sue smiling down at me. I feel my stomach knot. Sue isn't smirking at me or giving me a fake smile, no, Sue is genuinely smiling at me like I just became worthy of being in her presence. It makes me feel as though someone, probably Santana, is about to come out and dump a vat of pig's blood on me. Maybe that's why Quinn was smiling.

"Be careful of Brittany. She may be sweet and caring 99% of time, but there's a reason why she was in the unholy trinity." Sue tells me. I nod my head, but I seem to be too frozen to my spot to do anything else. "I'm not going to hurt you my little hobbit friend. I heard what you were trying to do for Santana and Quinn."

"Are you going to tell Santana?" I ask timidly. I know Santana isn't too fond of me at the moment, and I don't know how she would react knowing I had tried to threaten Brittany into leaving her alone. Even if I did kind of fail at doing so. Sue looks me over before answering.

"I gave Quinn away to Santana at their wedding." Sue says slowly looking past my shoulder as if reliving the moment. "Quinn's father wasn't too fond of their union at the time. So Quinn asked me if I would do the honor. I'll never forget the look on Santana's face when she saw us. Her eyes never left Quinn until we got to the alter. That's when she finally looked at me. Her expression was a mixture of 'That's my wife isn't she beautiful?' and 'This is real, right?' My favorite picture from the wedding is of Santana when she was looking at Quinn walk down the aisle. It captured that expression perfectly. It's a picture of somebody who's truly in love. It's a rare sight, but I always see it when I see them together." I nod my head and smile. I know the look Sue's talking about.

"I love those girls, and there's no denying that they love each other. I know Brittany's been trying to get in the way of that. So on their behalf I want to thank you for trying to protect their love. So, Rachel, if you don't want me to tell Santana about your chat with Brittany I won't." Sue says smiling at me. I'm shocked. Coach Sylvester knowing my name and actually addressing me by it made my heart skip a beat and rendered me speechless. Sue walks past me patting my shoulder as she leaves. It's not until a few minutes later when Kurt shouts my name from the door that I finally shake myself out of my stupor. I look around one last time before heading outside.

Quinn POV

I'm in the Lopez's backyard. We're having a barbeque tonight. My mom, my in-laws, Coach Sue and her daughter Robin, and my dad who decided to drive down from Dayton where he had a business meeting are going to be here. It's a nice night so we decided to eat in the backyard. Santana and her father, Carlos, are out by the grill. They're debating the best way to grill the chicken.

They already had a fight about what type of marinate to use. That was yesterday, it ended with Maribel sending both Santana and her husband to their rooms for a time out. It wasn't very effective though because when I went to check on both Santana and Carlos they were both in their respective rooms looking up evidence to back their claims. So we decided to split up the chicken. Half in one marinate and half in the other as it seemed neither one was going to relent. Santana is too much like dad sometimes.

I'm setting the table when I see a head poke up from over the Lopez's fence. It always did surprise me to find out the Lopez's lived next to the Berry's especially considering how much Santana and Rachel fought during high school. It's one of the reasons we always stay at my mom's house. "Looks like you guys are having a fest!" Mr. Berry smiles over at me. I think his name is Hiram or maybe it's LeRoy, but I never really met Rachel's parents so I wouldn't really know the difference.

I smile at him, "Yeah the entire family's going to be here. What are you guys doing tonight?" I can see the tops of his shoulders move in a shrug. "I don't know. Rachel and Kurt are coming over. I don't know why they insisted on getting a hotel room when we had plenty of space. I think Finn might stop by as well." I nod my head.

"Are Finn and Rachel back together?" I ask politely. I've seen them together a lot this weekend, but never got the chance to ask. Mr. Berry laughs, "I think we'd all like to know the answer to that." I laugh along with him as I feel a body slide up to mine.

"Hiram! It's so good to see you!" Maribel says. Mr. Berry, or Hiram, waves at Maribel. "Did you ever get to meet Quinn when Rachel was in school?" she asks gesturing over to me. Hiram shakes his head 'no'. "Quinn was on the cheerios with Santana. She's my daughter in-law now. Here look at the ring my Santana picked out. It's gorgeous." Maribel brings me over to our side of the face and forces me to show of my engagement ring to Hiram.

"Oh it is quite beautiful, Santana picked a good one." Maribel and Hiram continue discussing a variety of topics as I tune out and look over at Santana. She and her father are arguing again. Santana is gesturing to something and I can almost sense that the next words out of her mouth are going to be Lima Heights Adjacent.

"Santana!" I half scold half yell from across the yard. Santana's head snaps to the direction of my voice and suddenly she looks like a little kid who was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. I can hear Hiram and Maribel trying to stifle their laughter as I put my hands on my hips and cock an eyebrow at her. Carlos is smugly looking at his daughter as if he just won the argument they had been having.

"Do you two need another time out?" I ask. Carlos scowls at that, and Santana looks even guiltier than before. Maribel and Hiram are both giggling behind me. "Do you know how to grill?" I ask Hiram. He smiles and nods his head. "We have plenty of food if you guys to come over." Maribel says.

I can see the hesitation in Hiram's eyes and I know he's about to decline so I continue before he has the chance. "Please? It'll be nice to spend more time with Rachel. Plus you can help us put an end to their bickering." I say pointing my thumb back in the direction of Santana and Carlos.

"I'll see if LeRoy wants too." He concedes. "Dinner starts at 7. Don't worry about bringing anything over I'll go fix something up that Rachel can eat." Maribel says waving goodbye. Hiram looks at me amused, "I guess I see you at 7." He says. "Looking forward to it." I call out waving at him.

An hour later the doorbell rings, and I go into the foyer to open it. Everybody is here except the Berry's and Coach Sue. I open the door to reveal all three Berry's, Kurt, and Finn. Rachel is holding some wine and I step back to let them in. Rachel hands me the wine and I go into the kitchen to put it away.

"Look what the Berry's brought." I say to Maribel as I pass her. "How sweet of you, but I thought I told you it wasn't necessary." Maribel says giving LeRoy and Hiram a hug in greeting. "You've grown into such a beautiful young lady, Rachel." Maribel says kissing her on the cheek. Rachel blushes at the attention and looks a little taken aback at her affection. Santana really takes after her grandmother in the affection department, both mami and papi Lopez are huggers.

"Look at these handsome young men. I don't believe we've been introduced. I'm Maribel Lopez and this is my daughter Quinn." Maribel says gesturing to me before going to shake their hands. Kurt and Finn introduce themselves. I see a flash of recognition pass over Maribel's features briefly at their names. Maribel knows all about Santana's trip out of the closet, and how exactly she ended up in New Haven with me. Maybe it was a good thing Rachel brought over wine, I have a feeling I'm going to need a drink before the night ends.

"You went to school with Santana?" Maribel more states than asks. "We were in glee club with her." Kurt supplies. Maribel smiles at him, "Yes, how was the reunion? Quinn hasn't told me anything, and lord knows getting information out of Santana is like hugging a porcupine." Kurt, Finn, and Rachel laugh awkwardly at that. "I resent that mami. I'm much cuter than a porcupine." Santana says as she walks in.

I look up where I'm helping Maribel cut up vegetables. Santana has soot smudged on her face and she's all sweaty. I look outside and see my dad and Carlos seem to be in about the same condition. I spin on my heel to face Santana, knife still in my hand. "Santana," I warningly. Santana raises her hands in surrender, "I swear it wasn't me!" Santana looks over to her mother for help as Rachel, Kurt, and Finn look between the three of us questioningly. Hiram and LeRoy had already left to sit with my mother outside.

"Don't look at me." Maribel says handing Finn and Kurt dishes of food asking them to help her take them outside. Rachel shifts uncomfortably, "Quinn, maybe you should put down the knife." Rachel says quietly reaching over to lower my hand. "You didn't mess up the chicken did you?" I say setting down the knife in favor of stepping closer to Santana.

Santana shakes her head furiously, "Of course not, baby. If papi had just listened to me…" I raise my hand to stop her from rambling. "Wine." I say, "I need wine." Rachel scrambles to pour me a glass. I think she just wanted something to do besides standing there.

"Santana, you know I love you right?" I ask in a faux sweet voice. Santana nods her head shifting uncomfortably. She knows this is my 'you're in trouble' voice. "Good. Now go get cleaned up, and I swear if I hear you and your dad argue one more time about that stupid chicken I will go all Lima Heights on your ass." Santana nods and scurries away with her tail between her legs.

I roll my eyes and look over at Rachel. She looks uncomfortable. I grab the glass of wine out of her hand and take a gulp. "Relax Rachel." I say patting her shoulder. Rachel nods but she's still tense so I decide she needs a glass of wine about as much as I do so I pour her one. "Don't worry. I won't actually go all Lima Heights." I say nudging her shoulder. I grab the platter of vegetables before looking back at her. "Just don't tell Santana. I gots a rep to maintain." I joke winking at her. That gets Rachel to crack a smile.

Santana stomps back down the stairs scowling like a grumpy child. "Here. Take these outside, and please don't blow them up or whatever you did earlier." I tell her. Santana scowl deepens at my teasing, but she still takes the platter. I hear the door open and a squeal enters my ears as I feel a tiny body collide with my legs.

I set down my glass and lift up Robin. I give her a kiss on the cheek before looking at Sue questioningly. "I hope you lock your doors in Boston, Q." She says before coming over to give me a hug. "Everybody's outside." I tell her moving towards the back door before stopping.

"Did you lock the door?" I ask Sue turning around. "I got it." Rachel says walking back into the kitchen grabbing both of our glasses. "Thank you. I've had to deal with a grumpy Aunt Tana all day." I tell Robin smiling at her. Robin loves Santana, and I can feel the excitement radiating off her just at the mention of Santana's name. "Auntie Tana! Auntie Tana!" Robin screams wiggling out of my arms as she fights to get closer to Santana.

Santana smiles at us as she rushes over to take Robin from me. "How's my little bird doing?" Santana asks lifting Robin up and twirling her around. Robin falls into a fit of giggles and high pitched screams. I look around to find Kurt and Finn looking curiously at Santana. Not many people would believe that Satan would be good with children, but Santana is great with kids.

I turn to take my glass from Rachel. She's watching Santana talk to Robin adamantly about the new book Robin is reading. Rachel has a soft smile on her face as she watches them. "She'll make a great mother." Rachel says. I smile as we walk to the table. "We're going to start trying in another year or so. Santana just got a promotion and with how well my last book did we finally have enough money to where we can really afford it." "That's wonderful Quinn. I think both of you would be great parents." Rachel says giving my hand a squeeze.

I sit next to Santana. Robin is sitting in her lap and Sue is sitting on the other side of Santana fixing them both a plate. Rachel sits next to me. My dad is busy showing Carlos something on his phone as Maribel talks to the Mr. and Mr. Berry. My mother is talking to Finn and Kurt about what they're up too now.

"What are you two looking at?" I ask my dad. Both my dad and Carlos have a mix between a proud smile and a shit eating grin. "Oh Russ is just telling me about his latest golf tournament." Carlos says. I hear Santana groan beside me and Rachel looks over at her confused. "Let us see." I say reaching for my dad's phone. Rachel looks at me as I put the phone in between us.

I start flipping through the pictures of my dad golfing when I find the picture I'm looking for. It's an action shot of Santana. You can't see her face, but since I was the one who took it I know exactly who that is. I flip to the next picture. It's of Santana and my dad both wearing proud smiles holding up a trophy. "Is that Santana?" Rachel asks looking at the picture more closely. "Does that trophy say father son tournament?" she asks.

My dad tells her proudly about how he and Santana won his companies father and son golfing tournament for the second year in a row. Rachel is laughing by the end of it. "I couldn't have asked for a better son." My dad says jokingly winking at Santana. "Well I doubt you could find one prettier than me." Santana banters back and the table laughs at her. "The chicken was great sweetie." I whisper to Santana after dinner. "You should tell papi that." she says nudging my shoulder with a smile.

Santana and I are helping clean up the kitchen. "We got more plates for you." Kurt says. I look over as he and Rachel set them down. "It's never ending is it?" Santana says with a chuckle. Maribel and my mom come in shortly after and usher the four of us out of the kitchen. "We can handle clean up." My mom says as I protest.

We head back outside. Russell is talking to Sue as Carlos is helping Robin color something. Finn is talking to the Berry men. Santana and I head off to where a few patio chairs are lined up away from the table. Santana sits down and reclines her chair back so she can look up at the night sky. I sit down in her lap as Rachel and Kurt plop down in the other chairs.

"I think this is what I miss most about Lima. You can never see the stars in the city." Santana says wrapping her arms around my waist. I settle in to her laying my head against her neck. "It is beautiful." Kurt muses from beside us. "So Santana you're into golf? Anymore lesbian clichés I should know about." Kurt teases with a smile. Santana laughs and shakes her head. "I can totally rock a women's power suit." I nod my head at that. Santana always looks hot in her work outfits. Kurt and Rachel laugh.

"So your dad is cool with the whole being gay thing?" Rachel asks me. I look over at my dad. "It took a while, but he came around." Santana snorts at that. "Sorry." She says when we all look at her. "Santana helped save his business, and it was love at first check." I explain shrugging.

My dad's business got into a lot of legal trouble five years into our marriage. He couldn't really afford a lawyer so when Santana offered her services pro bono who was he to refuse. It was a losing case, and I had begged Santana not to take it. She had just won her first few cases at the firm and I was afraid of the set back a loss would bring her. Santana was confident though and hell bent on taking the case. So I did what any good wife would do: I put on a fake smile and supported her. I was the only one though. Her firm didn't think she would win, the plaintiff didn't even think she stood a chance, and even my father thought it was a lost cause. I watched again and again as settlement offers were passed up pushing the case into the court room.

I remember the smug look on the plaintiff's attorney's face when he saw Santana stroll into the court room. The trail hadn't even begun, and he was already planning his celebration. The look on his face stayed there until Santana strode to middle of the floor to give her opening speech. Santana wasn't like all the other young, ambitious attorneys he had dealt with before. Her presence was confident and commanding. Santana's words flowing seamlessly together. No matter what was thrown at her during the case Santana never faltered. Years of cheerios practice had not only built Santana's body into a well-oiled machine it had also taught her how to manipulate any scenario to her own benefit and how to look fear itself in the eye and not back down.

My father, who had doubted Santana from the beginning, watched in awe as Santana tore apart the case in front of her. Santana shouldn't have won that case. It was obvious to anybody who actually read over the facts or knew my father that he was guilty of what he was being accused of. That didn't stop the judge from ruling in Santana's favor though, and everybody took notice. It was the case that not only jump started Santana's relationship with my dad, but her career as well.

Santana doesn't know, but after the three of us celebrated her victory over dinner I heard what Santana told my father. She threatened that if he ever hurt me again she would have no problem hurting him. Santana had told him he wouldn't be the first grown man she'd make cry, in fact he probably wouldn't even be the first grown man she would make cry that day if he ever betrayed my trust. My father hasn't stepped a toe out of line since, and has welcome Santana in with open arms. He even likes her more than Franny's husband.

When I tune back into the conversation Santana, Rachel, and Kurt have moved on to lighter subjects. I remain quiet only chiming in here or there. I look up at the night sky trying to soak in this moment. I don't know if or when it'll happen again. Kurt, Rachel, and Santana sitting around laughing and joking like old friends. Their issues with each other momentarily erased as they simply enjoy what might be their last night together.


	7. Chapter 7

Santana's POV

It was the last day everybody was going to be in Lima. Puck was throwing a party tonight that he made Quinn and I promise to go to. We were heading back to Boston in the morning. We needed to pack, but I'm sitting here in the Lima Bean thinking not about what tonight will bring but instead what today really means to me.

It's July 1st, today, 7 years ago I married Quinn on a beach in New York, the Statue of Liberty off in the distance, the sun setting behind it as I promised to love Quinn with all I had no matter what until death tore us a part. I look down at my phone. It's open to a photo from my sorority sister, Rylan. It's a picture of her and my god child, Riley, holding up a decorated sign telling me 'Happy Anniversary Auntie Tana and Auntie Quinn.' I have been getting calls and texts from all my friends, family, and even some co-workers wishing me many more happy years with Quinn.

We went out to brunch with my parents and Quinn's mom this morning. Telling stories from the past 10 years of our relationship as we ate omelets and bacon, always lots of bacon. We're going out to dinner before Puck's party. I hear somebody sit down in front of me. I look up to find Kurt quirking his eyebrow at my phone. "You got a secret family you're hiding from us too, Satan?" I turn my phone so he can see it properly.

"It's your anniversary?" he asks me when he sees the card they're holding up. "Seven years." I tell him. "Surprised you made it that long without Quinn killing you." he chuckles. "We work well together." I say putting my phone away. "How'd you two end up together anyways? I never saw that coming. I always thought Quinn was straight." I shrug. How Quinn fell in love with me I'll never understand, but will be forever grateful for.

"You said you guys have been together for 10 years?" he asks. I smile and nod my head. "She ask you out? Did you ask her?" "Actually I was getting ready to go out with another girl." I tell him laughing a little at the memory. Kurt raises his eyebrows at my admission. "Don't tell me you got drunk and got into bed with the wrong girl, Lopez." He teases. "No, would you believe me if I told you it all started off with a fight?" I ask.

Most people actually don't believe us when we tell them how we got together. Quinn and I rarely fight with each other, and never do we fight in front of people. When we do fight it's always over something big like when we bring up old insecurities.

When I invited Quinn's father to the wedding I was pretty sure Quinn was going to actually kill me. From the murderous glint in her eye as she yelled at me I'm pretty sure she was thinking of which way best to do it. To this day I still believe the only reason I'm still here is because Quinn was already too stressed out to have to deal with questions from friends and family about my whereabouts after she hid my body. I have no doubt, however, that if she had chosen to go through with her murderous scheme she would've for sure gotten away with it. Quinn's too smart to get caught.

"Sounds like you two." He laughs. So I tell him the story of how I had met a girl at the bar I worked at. How she had asked me out, and I had gone to Quinn for advice. I tell him how I was getting ready when Quinn snapped and angrily professed her love for me. I tell him how Quinn ran away, and I had called my date to cancel. I tell him about going to a trophy store in a skin tight red dress and heels and bought a first place trophy. How baseball was the most popular sport in season and thus the only trophy they had to fit my needs at that second. How I showed up with flowers and a ridiculous trophy just to have Quinn tackle me at the door before kissing me hard on the mouth. I tell him how I took her out to dinner, and how at the end of the night I told Quinn if she still wanted to give us a shot that I'd really like to see her again.

"How'd you know that Quinn was the one for you? I always thought Blaine and I would end up together, but now we never talk and he has a kid with another man." I think back on my relationship with Quinn. "You know I came back here." I tell him looking around the Lima Bean. "I promised Brittany I'd be here when she graduated so I came back." He looks surprised at my confession. "Why didn't you tell anybody? Brittany said you had sent her flowers." I nod my head. I had sent Brittany flowers with a note to be sure she knew exactly who they were from. "It was about a week after I had started dating Quinn. It was the only time I've come back to Lima without her."

"Quinn was nervous about me coming back. Before I left I thought she was just scared of the shit storm I'd receive from you guys, but at the ceremony seeing Brittany, Sam, Artie, Rachel, and you" I say gesturing to him, "I realized why she left everybody behind too." Kurt quirks an eyebrow at me curiously. "You know I never asked her to stop being friends with you. I just needed to get away, but the Sunday after I arrived she changed her number and erased her social media accounts."

"We always thought you made her chose." Kurt says in a quiet voice. I shake my head, "I would never make Quinn chose between her friends and me. When I saw you again I finally realized why she ran away with me." Realization spreads over Kurt's face, "She was in love with you." He says.

"Quinn was in love with me and shut off her past so she could have me. That's why she was mad at me when I started dating again. She didn't understand how I could chose to keep her in my life, but not want her." "Quinn is the reason you stayed away." I nod my head.

"It wasn't the last night I saw any of you, but it was the night that I decided that if Quinn wanted to stand by my choices to run away that I would stand by hers to stay away. So after the ceremony I came here and called Quinn instead of confronting Brittany." Kurt is silent after my admission taking it all in so I continue. "It was my second year at Berkeley when I knew I was going to marry Quinn." I smile at the memory. "We had gotten into a huge fight." Kurt laughs at that.

"Does every major decision you make start with a fight?" he teases me. I shrug, sometimes I need to get hit over the head to understand what I want. "You know I can't even remember what we were fighting about. Quinn and I rarely ever fight. By the time it happened we were living together so I went to the library to cool off. My best friend, Ashley, stormed in an hour after I got there like a mad woman demanding why I wasn't picking up Quinn's calls."

I chuckle at the memory and look at Kurt and shrug when I tell him, "I didn't even know Quinn was calling me. I was in a library my phone was on silent. I had about 50 missed calls from Quinn and several texts from friends telling me my 'wife' was looking for me and she was pissed."

"I know Quinn is hot when she gets mad, but is that really a reason to marry her?" Kurt asks. I laugh and shake my head, "I went straight back to the apartment. Quinn was furious, but halfway into yelling about how I couldn't just leave a note saying I was going out, but not saying where I was going and not telling anybody where I would be she just broke down. She started sobbing about how she thought I had left her. I don't know why, but it was that moment when I was telling her over and over again that she was stuck with me and I loved her I knew I was telling the truth. I started looking for a ring the next day." Kurt's smiling at me like a goon.

"A fight brought you together and got you to propose." "I was so nervous, Kurt. I dropped the ring twice before I finally finished my speech." Kurt laughs, "And here I thought nothing could turn Santana Lopez into a bumbling mess." I shrug, "I guess Quinn just brings it out in me."

"I am sorry, Santana." Kurt says after a few minutes of silence. "For that night. It just happened so fast, and Rachel was so angry. I didn't know what to do. We were all just kids living in a dream. That night the real world just came crashing through and I was scared. You had brought up a real problem that turned into a nasty mistake." I look at Kurt. I know he's being sincere, I know he's sorry.

"My biggest regret is not speaking up. For not defending you when all you were trying to do was protect us." Kurt's looking down at the table ashamed of his past actions so I reach over and grab his hand to get him to look at me. "Thank you, Kurt. It's not necessary though I forgave you a long time ago, but you need to forgive yourself. We all make mistakes."

"Santana you could've gotten hurt. We lived in New York not Lima. If you hadn't gone to New Haven who knows what would have happened to you. If Quinn hadn't taken you in especially after what happened over Thanksgiving..."

"If you had said something. I would've stayed in New York. I probably would have gotten back together with Brittany and I'd be a bar tender or a waitress singing in crappy bars trying to get noticed, or I'd be here in Lima with Brittany so she could live out her dream. I'd spend my time thinking where I went wrong, and probably have a lot of regrets." Kurt opens up his mouth to talk again, but I cut him off.

"That night was terrible, but I would do it all over again if it meant I get to have my life. I love my job, I loved college, I got to live in my favorite city while studying something I'm passionate about. I have a wife and friends that I wouldn't trade for the world. Quinn and I forgave you and Rachel a long time ago. We just didn't want to leave our bubble to tell you, and yeah that was selfish and I'm sorry. I'm happy Kurt. Quinn, she makes me happy."

"Can I ask you one more question?" Kurt asks shifting uncomfortably. I nod my head. "Why didn't you ever call Brittany back? I know Rachel said some nasty things, but you and Brittany really did love each other at one time. Brittany, she would've helped you." I sigh running my fingers through my hair.

"The first couple of months I was in New Haven I got really clingy with Quinn. Whenever she was around I was always touching her. I spent all my time with her if I wasn't working, I made her sleepover all the time, and we ate all our meals together. It didn't matter where she was or what she was doing. I kept tabs on Quinn. I knew her schedule by heart and I got to know all her friends. After I got my apartment I gave Quinn a key right away. After we got together Emily, Quinn's roommate, told me she always thought I was so touchy with Quinn because I was trying to claim her or something. She said she thought that since I had lost so much I wanted people to know Quinn was mine, that they couldn't take her away from me."

"I had lost Brittany a long time ago. She was with Sam, and we never talked. Then I lost you and Rachel. I never really talked to anybody else from glee. I was just trying to stay afloat so I grabbed on to Quinn. She anchored me." Kurt was nodding along to my words probably trying to figure out where I'm going with this. I can see the regret in his eyes.

"Brittany called Quinn when I showed her my apartment the day after I arrived at New Haven." I remember the look on Quinn's face when she said Brittany's name.

We were hugging when her phone went off, and I pulled away so she could take it. I grabbed onto Quinn's shirt when she said Brittany's name, but I didn't say anything just shook my head. I looked around my new apartment as Quinn spilled the story we had already shared with Kurt and Rachel. The apartment was bare. It felt cold unlike the warm and homey feeling I always got from the loft when I entered.

When Quinn hung up I could tell she was going to say something so I stopped her by asking her how I should furnish the place. It was small, I didn't have room for much. Quinn always had an eye for design so she started mapping out what I should do. "Wow, you work fast." He says with a bitter chuckle, snapping me out of my memories.

"You should have seen how torn she was between pushing me back to New York, back to Brittany, or keeping me there for herself. Plus having Brittany crying over the phone didn't help." "Quinn kept you from calling Brittany." Kurt states.

I shake my head, "No, Quinn would never ask me to do that, but it was a reason as to why she obeyed my wishes to keep my whereabouts a secret. I didn't feel safe with Brittany anymore, not like how I used to. I felt safe with Quinn, and I didn't want her to feel like I was leaving her. I couldn't lose Quinn again." Kurt was nodding his head. "I get it. You ran away to Quinn because you knew she would keep you safe. You kept away to insure Quinn wouldn't get scared and leave you. That meant staying away from Brittany especially after you started dating Quinn."

"Quinn stole my heart the second she opened the door the night I left." Kurt smiles at me patting my hand. "You did what you had to do in order to make sure she didn't run away with it." My phone buzzes on the table. It's Quinn. She wants to know where I am. "The wife?" Kurt asks chuckling when I smile and nod. "I have to go. We need to pack and then we're going to dinner." Kurt nods and stands up with me.

"I guess you're not going to Puck's party?" He asks giving me a hug. "No, we are. Puck made us promise to come. He doesn't know it's our anniversary." I tell him before saying goodbye and heading home.


	8. Chapter 8

Quinn POV

Today has been great. Seven years ago I got what I always wished for, a life with Santana. Sure it hasn't always been easy, but it's been the best time of my life. After dinner we went back to my mom's house to change into more comfortable clothes. None of the glee kids know it's our anniversary, and we didn't want to have to answer questions as to why we're so dressed up.

"Don't drink too much tonight, okay? You're not going to want to deal with your hangover in the morning." I say. "Yes, dear." She responds rolling her eyes, but the smile I can see her fighting tells me she's not annoyed at my pestering. I kiss her cheek and ring the doorbell.

When Puck opens the door the house is empty. "Are we early?" I ask him. He shakes his head with a smile and allows us to step in. As soon as the door closes music starts playing and Rachel comes into the room along with the rest of the glee club.

I don't realize Rachel's holding a microphone until she starts singing _My Life Would Suck without You_. Puck pulls on a string in the middle of the song and a banner falls 'Happy Anniversary!' is written in neat block letters across it. I look over to Santana to see if she put them up to this, but I can tell she's just as shocked as I am. On the TV, although it's muted, I can see clips from our wedding video being played. It's on our first dance.

When they're done singing Rachel and Kurt come up with a large card. On the front is a picture of our first kiss at the altar. Santana and I are both smiling into the kiss and you can make out the silhouette of the statue of liberty that's off in the distance. The card is signed by everybody.

"Kurt," I hear Santana whisper I can tell she's really touched by their gesture. I look at him bewildered by the events that just happened. "Santana, when you were telling me about how you and Quinn got together today I could see how much you love her. So I talked to everybody and we really wanted to celebrate today with you." "You told him." I ask nudging Santana. She still looking at the card when she shakes her head, "He saw the text Rylan sent us of her and Riley." Santana looks around the room.

"How did you get all this stuff?" she asks looking at the TV which is now on Ashley giving her maid of honor speech. Santana and I are laughing at whatever story Ashley is telling. "We asked your mom to help us out." Rachel explains. Santana gives Rachel and Kurt a hug. Rachel looks a little shocked that Santana actually initiated a hug with her. When she steps back Santana looks around the room again clearing her throat.

"Thank you." Santana says looking at them. "Being a part of a sorority gives you a family. Usually we'd be spending today with friends and Russell since he lives close to us. It was weird not being able to do that this year. I never thought that I'd get to be married to someone as wonderful as you." Santana says looking at me. "I was so nervous when I proposed I dropped the ring." Santana says getting a laugh.

"Twice." I remind her with a smile. Everybody laughs the image of Santana who's usually so smooth actually being a bumbling mess. "I know it hasn't always been easy, but I'd be lost without you. You anchor me, Quinn. I thought when we got married I couldn't love you more than I already did, but you proved me wrong because every day I fall more and more in love with you." The girls and Kurt 'aw' at that.

"Seven years ago I had the best day of my life. Its seven years later and it still surprises me that it wasn't all a dream. I like spending today with family because I like people seeing how lucky I got on that day. I'm really glad we get to spend today with all of you. Thank you."

"Careful," I tell her, "your heart is showing." Everybody laughs but she just smiles at me. "Ever since you came along it always has a nasty habit of showing up."

Throughout the night people would come up to me and congratulate me, and joke about how it's a miracle I haven't killed Santana yet. They would ask all the basic questions: how did she propose, how did you get together, what was the wedding like? I would smile and tell them. Some of the gleeks were dancing, others were outside enjoying the cool evening air, but to my surprise a quite a few of them were watching our wedding video.

"Santana," I hear a familiar voice say from the living room. I walk in to see a majority of the glee club turn towards the TV. After they were done giving us our surprise Kurt reset the video to the beginning and put the sound on. "I didn't know what to expect when I met you. I was a freshmen rushing your sorority because it was what my parents wanted, but I was just a shy, timid small town southern girl. I spent more time at the library than I did at parties growing up." Ashley was on the screen giving her speech.

"I think some of the older girls thought it'd be funny pairing us up. We've always been an odd couple. For those of you who don't know I grew up in a town filled with almost all straight, conservative Caucasians who thought the south would raise again. So imagine my surprise when suddenly my days are spent almost entirely of hanging out with a short, feisty, Latina chick who would rather deliver a snarky comment than give you a hug. Honestly, I was afraid of you." I can hear laughs around the room and from the screen.

"So what changed? How did I end up being the maid of honor to a woman who scared the crap out me? At a party some drunk frat guy, whose name I can't even remember now, got a little handsy. I was scared until I felt a body push between us and heard a string of Spanish. The only words I could understand were Lima Heights Adjacent and Snixx." The glee club laughed at that.

I look over at Santana. She has a grin on her face looking at the screen. "You took me back to your apartment because I was too drunk to walk back to the dorms. You slept on the couch, and let Quinn and I share the bed. I didn't think I'd be comfortable in your home. I barely knew you, but I don't think I had ever been in a place so welcoming. You told me once you would always protect me, and you have. You helped shape me into who I am today. You have a hard shell, Santana, but when you let someone, in even a little bit, you're the most loving person I know. Quinn's probably the luckiest girl I know. You look at her the same way you did all those years ago when I first met you, like she's the best thing in the entire world. Quinn, I know I don't need to ask you this but I wouldn't be fulfilling my best friend duty if I didn't, take care of her, and try not to kill Santana. I know she can be stubborn sometimes and god knows she's not a morning person, but she loves you more than anything in the world. Congratulations! And may you have a long and happy marriage."

I laugh as the audience claps for Ashley and the next person comes up to speak. "Who was that?" a voice asks besides me. I turn and see Rachel. "Ashley. She is Santana's best friend and her maid of honor." I see Emily stand up and I hush Rachel.

"I'm lucky enough to say I got to see these two love birds story unfold in my college dorm room. I met Quinn my freshmen year at Yale and shortly after my second semester started I was fortunate enough to have Santana bust into said dorm room." I can hear the audience on screen laughing, but all the gleeks are focused on the TV quiet they know the reasons behind Santana intrusion.

"Quinn was a contradiction when I met her. She was broken in many senses, but always seemed so well put together. Santana like many people at 19 just seemed lost when I met her. At first I didn't understand why Santana seemed to cling onto Quinn as if Quinn was the only thing keeping her afloat as she drifted through what we call 'the real word'. How could someone that's such a contradiction to themselves help keep someone else from sinking when they were barely floating themselves? They simple answer is that they love each other. Even before they got together Quinn would always light up at just the mention of Santana's name, when she was stressed out Santana could always get her to relax, and the list could go on."

"The complicated answer? Santana allows Quinn to be herself. She can be crazy, she can be a nerd, but with Santana she never needed to be anything other than Quinn. For Santana, Quinn seemed to be her motivation. Quinn was a reason to get up in the morning, take those 12 hour shifts at a shitty bar downtown, but most importantly Quinn was in many senses her reason the really live. They pick each other up when the other doesn't think they can go on, or when they can't get up they carry each other up the mountain that is our lives. It's what makes them such an unstoppable duo. I don't need to wish you many happy years to come because I already know you'll make it. I want to thank you though. Thank you for allowing me watch your love unfold. When I use to think of love I always thought of fairy tales, but now I think of you. The way you two look at each other, the way you seem to be tuned into the same wave length working seamlessly together, but most importantly how you both take each other in faults included and love each other not despite of your short comings but because of them as well." I didn't realize I was crying until Rachel hands me a tissue.

"I looked for you that day." I start off, "I looked for all of you, any of you, specifically Brittany. All I ever wanted was to have a life with Santana. She didn't even need to love me. I just wanted her, and I never thought I'd actually get it. Everything I ever wanted always seemed to have a way of eluding me. Nobody ever loved me. Not even my father. Beth has always been my greatest achievement in life, and I couldn't even have her. I was so happy when Santana proposed even though she did look like she was going to have a heart attack." I say with a chuckle.

"I said yes, but I never really believed it was going to happen. I knew Santana had told Brittany she was getting married, so when the priest asked for any objections I looked out into the crowd. I thought for sure one of you would show up and take her away. When I looked back at Santana she was looking at me with this smile as if she knew this was how it was supposed to happen. That she and I would always end up together."

I'm looking at Santana who is now talking to Mike and Kurt. They're smiling and laughing. She must sense that I'm staring because she looks over at me and gives a smile before turning back to the conversation. "She loves you. I can tell by the way she looks at you" Rachel says. "I know."

"Why'd you come back?" Rachel asks. I think about Rachel's question for a while. Santana wasn't fond of the idea of coming back to the halls of McKinley and secretly I couldn't help but share her sentiment. Santana never did ask me why I wanted to come back, and neither did our parents.

The Lopez's had been trying to get us to call our old friends for years, and Santana's mother, Maribel, seemed so pleased that we were finally reconnecting that she was probably too afraid to ask incase Santana retreated even further into Boston.

"You know we went to your opening night. You were a wonderful Fanny Brice." Rachel looks surprised at my confession. "I never went to another of your plays, but Santana goes to see your opening nights every now and then. Even your off Broadway productions. We're not too far from New York. Always by herself, and she never tells anybody but me."

"Really?" Rachel asks just above a whisper. Her eyes have unshed tears glazing over her vision as she looks to where Santana is standing. "Lilies. Every opening night she always sends white lilies. She calls them the lesbians of flowers." I chuckle a little. Brittany had told Santana that once. "The note always has a quote it's the same one every time. Oh, what is it? Something about…"

"Barbra Streisand's hands. It's a quote from a critic that said her hands reminded them of a man's hand. It's from when she first played Fanny Brice on stage." Rachel interrupts me. A few tears have escaped and are rolling down Rachel's cheeks. "Everybody gets criticized. Success comes to those brave enough to face it." When Rachel just looks at me I smile and tell her that Santana once told me that. Before I released my first book I had voiced my fears of nobody liking it to Santana. In return Santana told me that everybody gets criticized, but success comes to those brave enough to face it.

When I told Santana that I wasn't in fact brave she laughed at me, and told me it didn't matter. She was brave enough for the both of us. Santana looked over my contract, and submitted my book to the publishing company. Several months later Santana came home after buying a copy of my book with a huge smile on her face, it was the last copy at the book store. Even if it was only one store my book had sold out somewhere.

"They were never signed, but a bouquet a white lilies never failed to show up every opening night. No matter how small the role, or even when I never told anybody but Kurt I had got a part. Always the same quote. Some were sent from New York, Boston, and one was even from New Jersey. Why not tell me?" Rachel asks pleadingly.

"She sent you the lesbian of flowers and signed it with a quote that called your idol man hands a name she always called you." "She was trying to tell me without telling me." Rachel chuckles. "She missed you, Kurt, and Puck. I don't know about the others, but I know she missed you." "Even after all the horrible things I said and did to her. After the things I said to you?" Rachel asks me.

"We all make mistakes, Rachel." "She could have gotten seriously hurt Quinn." I nod. Santana could have gotten hurt, but she didn't. "You need to stop thinking about the what if's. I used to think about what would have happened if she had gone back to New York instead of staying in New Haven. Santana told me I needed to stop living in the past. What happened happened and there's nothing we can do to change it, all we can do is move forward and reconcile with the choices we have made."

"How do you do that?" "I don't know, but in the case of what happened with Santana look at her now. She's happy, healthy, and has a good job. I don't know if I could say that if she had gone back to New York." Rachel nods her head in understanding. "You never answered my question though. You were afraid we would take her from you, so why come back?"

"Rach, Santana missed you and she wasn't going to reconnect without a push." "So you gave her a shove." Rachel wipes away her tears and hands me an envelope. I quirk an eyebrow and take it.

"It's an anniversary present from Kurt and me." she explains. I open it and inside are two plane vouchers, and tickets to her opening night of _Les Mis_ in a month. "We don't know where you live so we wanted to make sure you could get to New York. I would love it if you two came. We can take you out to dinner after the show."

"Boston." A raspy voice supplies in front of me. I don't need to look up to know its Santana. "We live in Boston." Santana explains when Rachel tilts her head in confusion. "Are you two okay? You look like you've been crying Rachel." I tense beside Rachel.

I don't know if Santana will be upset knowing I told Rachel she's been a fan of hers all these years. Rachel must sense my worry because she just waves a hand. "I fine Santana, it's just been a long weekend." "Yeah, I'll be happy to be back in my own bed tomorrow. What's that?" Santana asks pointing at the envelope in my hands. I hand it over, and she looks inside. "It's an anniversary gift from Rachel and Kurt." I explain.

Santana smiles at Rachel. "Thank you, Rachel. But we can't accept these." She says holding up the tickets to Rachel's play. I look at her curiously and Rachel looks hurt. "Santana," I start but Rachel cuts me off. "No, it's okay you don't have to go. Kurt and I just thought it'd be nice to give you a night in the city, but don't worry about it." Santana shakes her head and grabs Rachel's hand as she takes the tickets from Santana.

"We already have tickets. Front row." Santana says looking at Rachel. I look at Santana. I don't remember her buying tickets. "Quinn, I bought them like a week ago did you already forget?" Santana asks as if she just read my mind. I shrug. Santana tells me a lot of things. "You already have tickets?" Rachel asks dumbly to be sure she actually heard Santana correctly.

Santana smiles, "Of course we do. I hear there will be Broadway scouts in the audience and you," she says pointing to Rachel with a proud smile, "are the female lead. I wouldn't want to miss the show that brought you back to a real Broadway stage." "You really think I can get back on Broadway?" Rachel asks her. Santana shrugs, "It's only ever been a matter of time." Santana says it as though she was telling us that the sky was blue, and Rachel launches herself at Santana before I can even blink. Rachel pulls back wiping away her tears.

"We're taking the train in that Thursday. We'll be spending the weekend in New York and heading back late Sunday night." Santana tells both Rachel and I. "You can stay with Kurt and me if you want. We have a guest bedroom." Santana looks over at me silently asking me what I want to do.

"That sounds great Rachel." I say with a smile. If a smile can light up a room then I pretty sure right now Rachel's smile could light up an entire town. "This is going to so much fun!" she exclaims before running off to tell Kurt the good news.

"Are you sure you want to stay with Rachel and Kurt? We can get a hotel room instead." I whisper bringing Santana closer so I can lean my head against her shoulder. Santana wraps her arms around me and I can feel her nod as she rests her head against mine. "Thanks." She whispers. I pull away just far enough to look at her face. "For what?" I ask. "For bringing me back." She responds before kissing me.

10 years. 10 years is a long time. A lot of things happen in 10 years dreams come and go, people get married, people break up, but most importantly people change. I made a lot of mistakes here in Lima. I was a bully, I got pregnant at 16, I got kicked out, I ended up in a car accident for texting and driving, I got a Ryan Seacrest tattoo, but standing here in the arms of the woman I've loved since I was little girl surrounded by the people who helped piece me together every time I broke a little during my time here I can't help but feel that finally I made the right choice.

**I left the end open for a sequel when Quinn and Santana go to New York for Rachel's play. Let me know if want a sequel or not. **


	9. AN

I already have part of the sequel written, and I promise to post it up as soon as I feel I have a good first chapter down. Which I hope to have up by this weekend. If you have any ideas, comments, or suggestions on what you want to see in the next installment send me a message or review. Who do you want to return or meet? What situations do you want Quinn, Santana, or Rachel to get into? I would love and want to hear your thoughts. You guys are great! I appreciate all the love and support. Happy Halloween!

Allen


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